Intellectual Property For Influencers And Content Creators | Brealant

Content creators and social media influencers work hard to establish themselves as subject matter experts for particular concepts, brand names, and markets. By 2022, the influencer marketing industry is expected to be worth $15 billion by 2020, accounting for roughly 15% of total global ad spending. Influencers generate various types of protectable intellectual property while creating content and a brand. So, how do you safeguard your digital content?

While many intellectual property (IP) rights are automatically granted, there are various reasons to register your IP, including:

1. You can only sue for monetary damages if someone infringes on your registered copyright or trademarks.

2. Official registration lessens the possibility of others copying your creative efforts and trademarks. The registration of a trademark increases in the recognition of your brand.

3. Trademark registration also prevents others from misusing or stealing your audience by preventing them from using your name or logos.

We will provide common examples of influencer-created IP in this article. We'll also go over some fundamentals to ensure you're respecting others' intellectual property rights and following the intellectual property policies of each social platform.

Let's start with the intellectual property verticals that are most relevant to social media influencers.

Influencers and Creators Shared Intellectual Property

Influencers on social media create content that can be protected as intellectual property. Trademarks and copyright are the most frequent. Trademarks can be applied to domain names, logos, hashtags, and online aliases.

Videos, pictures, written content, artwork, and sound recordings can all be granted copyright. You can also use copyright to protect your photographs, graphics, dance moves, slogans, and phrases.

While copyright prevents others from utilising your creative stuff without your permission, trademarks prevent others from misrepresenting your brand to your fans. Both sorts of intellectual property give you the ability to identify yourself and benefit from your material.

Influencers must respect the intellectual property rights of others.

You must protect the intellectual property rights of others, just as you would expect others to respect your intellectual property rights and seek permission or pay for a licence to use your copyrighted or branded work. If you wish to reference another creator or utilise their work on social media, you must first obtain permission. Before making any direct references to another brand, including their products or services, you must first seek permission from them.

To summarise, acquire permission before using any content, including brand names, logos, a brand's products and services, someone else's videos, images, and graphics, written text, artwork, sound recordings, or another brand's slogans or phrases.

Social Media Platforms' Intellectual Property Rules

Each platform has its own set of IP guidelines that must be followed in addition to an understanding of intellectual property rights and general laws.

Steps to Safeguard Your Digital Content

1. If you need to take legal action to defend your intellectual property, you should register your trademarks and copyrights.
2. The Future of Digital Content Protection on social media
3. Newcomers have recently expressed an interest in the impact of NFTs on IP protection for content creators & social media influencers. NFT’s, also known as "nonfungible tokens," are essentially certificates of authenticity embedded in the blockchain, making them appropriate for online intangible assets like artwork, music, videos, and graphics (as well as other digital content). Whether an NFT is their original work or incorporates another creator's copyrighted work, content creators are still protected by copyright law.
4. Stevie Nicks made headlines when she refused to allow TikTok sensation 420Doggface208 to use the Fleetwood Mac song "Dreams" as part of an NFT sale in his viral skateboarding video. This serves as a reminder to always exercise caution to ensure that your creations do not violate the intellectual property rights of others. You should also make sure that your online creations are copyrighted or trademarked so that others do not steal your original work.